Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-24
BIBLICAL 0RNITH0L0GY.
TALMAGE LIkENS NEW COM
MUNICANTS TO BIRDS.

| DerN Admitted TO inc Ohurch - MI
Seeking Christianity advised to Fly
Low-New Converts FIOcking to the
Church For shelter From the storm
| Clouds of Sin.
! BROOKLYN, Jan. 23.-Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage's sermon to-day was preached
at the reception of 30S new mem bers,
making the COMMUNICATE membership of
the Brooklyn Tabernacle 1850. 1t was a
day memorable in the history OF this
church. The Reverend Doctors text was
Isaiah lX., s: "Who are these that fly as
a cloud, and as the doves to their win
dOws"' He preached as follows:
When God would set fast beautiful thought
| tie plants IL in tree; when He would put 1t
| a0oat He fashions it into q nsh; when He
would have 1t glide the air He molds it into
bird. There Is to many OF us complete
| fascination in the structure and habits of
| birds. The blackbird floating like flake of
| darkness through the sunlight; the meadow
| lark with head OF fawn and throat of velvet
and breast of gold; the red hamingo flying
over the Southern swamps like sparks from
! the forge Of the setting sun; the pelican,
white and black, morning and night tangled
! in its wings. They seem not more Of earth
| than heaven, ever vaclllating between the
! two, No wonder that Audubon, with his
! gun, tramped through all the American for
! ests in search OF new specimens. Biologists
| nave spent years In 0nUlng the track of
| birds claw In the new red sandstone. There
| is enough OF Gods architecture in a snipe's
bill or grouses foot TO confound all the uni
versties.
Musicians have with clefs and bars tried
to catch the sound of the nightingale
and the robin. Among the first things that
child notices is swallow at the caves; and
grandfather goes out with q handful of
crumbs to feed the snow-birds. The Bible is
full of ornithological illusions. The birds of
the Bible are not dead and stuffed, like those
of the museum, but living birds with futter-
ing wings and plumaGe. "Behold the fowls
Of the air." says Christ. Though thou eXalt
thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy
nest among the stars, thence wiz bring thee
! thou the goodly wings 10 the
peacocks?" says job. David describes
| his desolation by saying: II am like
! pelican Of the wilderness; am like an owl
of the desert; watch, and am as a sparrow
upon the housetop." Yea, the stork in the
heaven knoweth her appointed time: and the
| turtle and the crane and the swallow observe
| the time OF their coming; but my people
| know not the judgment OF the Lord" SO says
| jeremiah. And IN the text Isaiah looks
| ahead and sees the gathering of many people
unto Christ and the church, and 1T makes him
think OF flock OF pigeons alighting on their
| coop. and all at once trying to get in at the
window of the coop, and he cries out: "Who
are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves
| to their windOws2
This is one of the memorable davs of the
| Brooklyn Tabernacle. On other sundays we
| drop the net; to-day we haul 1t in. On other
days we send oUt The invitations for a kings
| party; to-day we sit at the banquet. On
| other days we fight the battle; now we claim
| victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Ye
| who have tOlled, and contributed and prayed
for the success of this institution, take unio
your souls the grand satisfactions of this
! hour. To you, o, men and women! is fulfill
| ed the promise: They that SOW in tears
shall re ap in joy" Wake W, o, Church of
| God! and bring garlands and music, and let
| celebrate our ''laFVpSt home ~
Oh, this mercy OF God / am told II is an
| ocean. Then place on it four swift sailing
crafts, with compass and charts, and choice
| rigging and SkidfuI naYigators, and | tell
| them to launch away and discover for me the
| extent of TINS ocean. That craft puts out in
| one direction and sails to the North; th.s to
| the Sou h; this to the East; this to the West
| They crowd on all their canvas and sail
10000 years, and one day come up to the har-
| Dor Of heaven, and | shout TO them from the
| beach: "Have you found the shore?" And
they answer: i'No shore to Gods mercvr'
| Swift angels, dispatched from the throne, at
| tempt to go across 1t. For 8 million wears
they fly and fly but then come back and fold
| their wings at the foot of the throne ana cry:
| mo shore! No shore to Gods mercy!"
Mercy! Mercy! sing it. l preach 1t. /
pray it. Here find man bound hand and
| foot to the devil, but with one stroke OF the
hammer of Gods truth the chains fall off and
| he is free forever. Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
| There is no depth it cannot fathom there is
no height it cannot scale; there is no infnity
| it cannot compass.
When persons apply for membership into
any society. the question Is asked: "Who are
| they and where 10 they come fromP' and as
| this multitude OF people o-day present them
selves for me mbership, it is right that we
| should ask: "Who are these that come as
doves to their windows" They are cap
| tives whose chains have been broken; they
| are soldiers who have enlisted for "A thirty
| years war, They are heirs of Heaven.
| They come as doves to the windows, first
because they fly low. The eagle darts up, as
1 4fpTtF af0 hnaL rVtFn s4antv.
| birds that seem to dwell under the caves of
heaven; you zee them as little specks against
the sky, so far off that you cannot guess the
| style of their plumage or the shape OF their
| bodies. They flOat Jar away that
| il the hunters gun be discharged at them they
| 60 not change their course. Not so with the
doves or pigeons, they never take any high
| excursions. They fly around your
roof and alght on the fence and seem to dis
| like great attitudes. So these souls who come
| to Christ and TO his church to-day, hy low.
They ask no great things; they seek an hum
bic place at the feet of christ. They are not
ashamed to be called beggars for mercy. they
are willing to get down on their knees and to
crawl under the tab c, and TO pick up the
crumbs OF gospel provision. There were
days when they were proud and punctilous
aud ineNorabc and pu0td up; but not now.
! The highest .hrOne of earth could not tempt
Mary away from Jesus feet. StoOp, o pDr-
dOned soul! if thou wOuldst enter heaven. A
nigh look and a proud heart God hates. Fly
low. IL Is amercy that thou canst Il yAtall. Re
iuclDDeT AL iDe years OF bnJ SIM my uhyB OF
youthful wandering; thy days OF inanhood
transgressons; thy slDs--dark, broOding,
deathul-sins against thy soul, against thy
Bible, against thy God.
In one OF the benevolent institutions OF
Europe where the destitute are provided for.
the newcomers have their photographs taken
while in rage before they are washed, so that
they may always have In the picture re-
minder Of the degradation from when they
were lifted 30, in this book, God keeps before
thee a picture OF thy former destitutiOD and
raGgedness Of soul. r low.
L. Is an offended God before whom thou
comest. Thou deservest His wrath. He scat
tered the $4,000 Of Sennacherib's host in
night. He abhors sin. He viii judge the
nations. Holy, holy. holy, IS the Lord God
Almighty Fly low.
a thousand years ago an emperor planted
rose bush from which roses are pluckcd to-
day. At the foot Of the cross nearly nineteen
centuries ago a rose was planted which
blooms to-day: stoOp down, II thou wouid'st
pluck ~. o for more Of the childlike spriti
/ rejoice in the belief that those who come TO
Christ to-day, come aware Of their sins and
their wants and have learned how 10 fly low.
AGAIN: These persons who come to-day are
like doves on their way TO the dove-cot, be-
cause they fly for shelter. The aibatrGss
makes "a throne OF the tempest; the sea Ruls
lind their grandest froic in the stOrm-their
meTrlest hour seems 20 be that in which the
surf OF the sea piles most high. Not 20 with
white doves: at the 1rst blow of The pOrth-
easter they fly TO the coop. Eagle contends
with eagle In mdair, and vulture lights vul-
ture on the bosom of the carcas but doves at
!